


The Beyrista

by itsbeen20years, thegrimshapeofyoursmile, tshjortile



Category: Bakuten Shoot Beyblade, Beyblade
Genre: Cat cafe AU, Found Family, M/M, Slow Burn, The Beyrista AU, past Yuriy/Garland
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:09:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26566348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsbeen20years/pseuds/itsbeen20years, https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegrimshapeofyoursmile/pseuds/thegrimshapeofyoursmile, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tshjortile/pseuds/tshjortile
Summary: “Uh…” The redhead looked up and Kai was met by a pair of remarkably blue eyes.“I, ah…” His mouth was slightly agape and Kai almost wanted to ask if he had seen a ghost. Well, after all that had happened today he probably looked ghoulish. Slowly, he raised one eyebrow. “So?”“Huh?”Or maybe Redhead was just not the brightest crayon in the box.“Coffee,” Kai said with a nod to their menu.“Right, coffee!” Blue eyes shot up to the board. “Yeah, uh, I…I take the…special?”---The Beyrista AU everybody has been looking for!
Relationships: Hiwatari Kai & Chen Mao | Mariah Wong, Hiwatari Kai & Kinomiya Hitoshi | Hiro Granger, Hiwatari Kai/Yuri Ivanov | Tala Valkov
Comments: 20
Kudos: 13





	1. Working Girls

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TrashyArtz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrashyArtz/gifts).



> This is a gift for @trashyartz, because her wonderful Beyrista AU art has brought this on. The three of us started talking and writing and.. well, here you go. Please enjoy! <3

“Kai, we’ll need another panino! Wait for me to toast it, though!”  
Mao finished off the three tripple-choc moccha latte a group of fancy-looking women from the bank across the street had ordered to go, handed out three espresso shots and finally, finally could slow down just a little bit. She watched Max waltz around the small seating area, flirting here and there, getting orders in and handing coffee out. So far, it had run smoothly.  
Well. Almost.  
Kai, her flatmate and newest addition to their constantly under-staffed cat cafè, still needed to learn. Mao got that. But how in the fucking world could one person just not listen so much?  
“No no no no no!”  
Mao rushed over to the newest addition to their café to save what could not be saved from the wrath of the toaster oven. She desperately fished out a black piece of panino before turning around to Kai, who glared at the toaster as if it had threatened to kill him. She sighed. “Fuck, Kai, why did you not wait for me like I told you, like, ten minutes ago?” She held herself back from adding Again out loud. So far, Kai had screwed up a cappuccino, two frappé orders as well as a fruit salad. The panino was just the cherry on top, burned black within minutes due to a mindless meddling of settings. Mao glanced at the toaster oven before turning to the waiting customer. She gave him a croissant on the house and hoped for the best.  
“Not have meddled you should with the toaster oven, young Padawan”, Max chirped in after the customer had left the café less pissed than expected. At his words, Mao suppressed a giggle despite her annoyance. Kai directed his glare at the blonde, who just shrugged it off and beamed at him. The blonde barista held a trash bag in one hand and a shovel in the other, which he held out to Kail. “I think Mao and I need to take care of our toaster oven now”, he explained. “So you go be a good new co-worker and go clean the litter box.”  
Kai just glared. He could probably not believe what Max was ordering him to do. “Kai”, it was Mao’s turn to cross her arms in front of her chest and glare at him. She met his eyes, counted one Mississippi, two Mississippis, three Mississippis until her friend gave in and rolled his eyes. He shrugged, defiantly. “At least I won’t screw that up,” he muttered before stomping off.  
Mao sighed, yet again and shared a look with Max. Her co-worker shrugged again. “Kai?”, he called behind their newest addition to the under-staffed cat café. When Kai stopped, but did not turn around, Max supplied helpfully: “You know, the litter boxes are the other direction?”  
Mao bit back a snicker at Kai’s groan as she watched him shush the cats out of his way. Max made a vague gesture towards the burned panino, then nodded towards the litter boxes. “I don’t know how to get him on track before Big Boss gets here”, he admitted. Mao pet one of the British shorthairs that kept sneaking to her side of the counter before sho-ing her off. “That may be a bit of a challenge”, she admitted before turning towards the toaster oven.

“Ouch!”  
Kai didn’t know if he wanted to swear under his breath or lick his burned finger. He decided for the latter, simply because he couldn’t afford to get even more negative attention from his colleagues. He had made it through the first half of his first day in his new job and even though things didn’t go as smoothly as Kai was used to, the store was not yet on fire. But god damn, it was the third time that he unintentionally touched the hot pipes of the coffee machines today. He liked coffee but he couldn’t make a decent cup, that much he knew now. Still he was here, fresh out of a daylong barista course that he had attended last weekend, wearing a cheap, dark green apron, trying his best not to ruin every beverage he produced. Last Sunday everything had looked much easier in the calm presence of their instructor. Chill music, as much time as they needed to foam milk and slowly pour the espresso, and even a shared joke here and there. He really had thought he could do this - taking on a normal job, making some money to pay the rent for his tiny room in the shared apartment, just… get a life. Finally. But no. Normal life was hard and unfair, and not even Mao had found it necessary to inform him that rush hours were hell on earth.  
It was ridiculous, really. How could he, who had just passed his first year studying business and politics at an elite university, screw up so badly? Not only the coffee, just… everything. Oh well, he knew exactly how. Even though the thought of what went wrong and how his life turned upside down during the last months didn’t make him want to throw up or throw a tantrum or throw - anything, really - anymore, his throat still started to feel tight again.  
Focus, Kai, he thought, You can’t afford to fail again.  
For him, who always had been told it was impossible to fail this hard, it was a new thought. It felt uncomfortable, as did the dread of having no financial security, no perspective for the future and not nearly enough space for himself.  
He felt something warm and soft at his leg and looked down. His teeth unclenched as he noticed Siegfried rubbing his sturdy cat body against his shin. He shouldn’t be here, though. Cats were not allowed behind the counter. However, they were all over Kai, probably because they sensed how stressed he was. Gently he tried to nudge him towards the seating area, but Siegfried was clingy. He looked up at him insulted and didn’t move an inch. With a sigh, Kai put the Cappuccino he just made on the countertop, hoping that Mao would hand it to the customer, and picked up Siegfried to get him out of the restricted zone.  
“Hey Kai,” Max called, “I think you can take a - oh, hi, Hiro!” He waved at someone who must have just entered the store. Kai, still with Siegfried in his arms, turned around and found himself face to face with a guy that almost made his jaw drop. Tall, tanned, fit - basically exactly how he liked his men. Kai knew, his preferences had caused a few problems in the past, but he couldn’t help himself. What a snack.  
Talltannedfit stepped closer, eyes behind sunglasses so Kai couldn’t see if he looked at his face or at Siegfried. “Well, hello. You’re the new guy, right?” He extended his arm to pet Siegfried’s head, smiling at him and showing off his perfectly white teeth. “Nice to meet you. I’m Hitoshi, the store manager.”  
Fuck. Talltannedfit was his boss.  
“I’m Kai,” he said and somehow managed to make his voice sound cooly. “Uh, thanks for the job.” Or whatever one was supposed to say in situations like this. Up until recently people had thanked him for gracing them with his presence.  
“Oh, you’re welcome. We have been looking for good additions to our team for a while. I’m glad we finally found someone. And honestly, at first glance you seem…” Now Kai was certain that Hitoshi eyed him up. “...perfect. Hey, can I have a mocha frappuccino?”  
A mocha frappuccino. He was doomed.  
“Uh, sure,” he said and finally put Siegfried down. As he went back behind the counter and to the cursed coffee machine, he sensed Hitoshi’s eyes on him again but didn’t dare to look back. He had to keep his cool and, moreover, remember how to make a fucking mocha frappuccino. It was a test, that much was clear. He wondered what would happen if he screwed up again. Maybe he would be fired from his first job in the real world on the first day. That would be… He didn’t want to think about how that would scratch his ego.  
Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Mao casually coming closer. She stood next to him and started to clean some dishes in the sink before she put them in the dishwasher.  
“What does he want?” she asked quietly.  
“Mocha frappuccino,” Kai hissed.  
“Uff, ok. Listen carefully. First you gotta…” She continued whispering instructions to him and Kai tried his best to follow and at the same time act as if he could do this in his sleep. He burned himself again, but almost didn’t feel the pain. The result looked and smelled edible, so that was a big plus.  
“You owe me,” Mao whispered and Kai nodded, albeit biting his lip. How often would Mao have to save his ass before he would be able to be his own person again? He hated being indebted with someone.  
Of course he had to walk over to Hitoshi to hand him the cup personally. Again he was hit by that piercing stare, but now he managed to return it. Could it be that his boss liked what he saw just as much as Kai did? Oh, this wouldn’t end well.  
“Thank you,” Hitoshi said and took the first sip. Kai briefly looked at his large, tanned hands before meeting his eyes again. “Well?”  
Hitoshi hummed. “Well done.” 

Lunch time arrived and with it another thirsty crowd of customers. Kai had not thought that could be possible, to be honest. Mao was still there, eyeing his every step close to the toaster oven or the coffee machine. She probably would not trust him for a while now after the frappucino accident. Kai sighed after serving the last in a long row of customers. The Big Boss had watched him the entire time from a distance, which had been mildly distracting and not helping his anxiousness at all. However, it had become easy to tune it out after the first rush for coffee that followed more for about two hours.  
Kai had gotten the hang of most easy coffee orders under Mao’s watchful eye so far, which gave him a bit more security. Now, surviving lunch rush hour, he went to sit down in one of the more hidden booths in the back. It did not take long for a few of the cats to join him.  
It was only after Siegfried had settled on his lap that just a few tables over Hitoshi was seated, looking through receipts and what seemed to be inventory lists. The frappucino still stood next to him.

“Hey, big boss, are you done bullying our new guy yet?”  
A brunette approached Hitoshi, smiling casually. Kai watched Hitoshi send her an innocent smile. “What? I don’t know what you are talking about, Hiromi”, he mumbled, sipping his drink. “I, for my part, am just enjoying my frappuccino.”  
“Yeah, sure, Mr. Double-Espresso-or-I’m-Depresso, I am sure that’s what it is”, the brunette deadpanned. She winked at Kai casually as she picked up Falstaff, the chubbiest cat Kai had ever seen that plain out refused to be touched by anyone, ever. The cat purred. Kai raised a brow at that before he caught the boss watching him and hurried off to the row of tables Max had overlooked on his last round.  
“Hiromi, you came”, Max cheered theatrically, “I knew you would not let me down! You’re saving my life!” He had already taken off his apron and looked ready to storm out of this place (which mirrored how Kai felt, but he still had the rest of the day to go). Mao next to him huffed in annoyance, rolling her eyes. “You’re just a hot mess, Max”  
The blonde, however, was already at the door, giving them an enthusiastic smile. The girls sighed in unison. “You know, sometimes I wonder how he even keeps his job”, Mao mused. Hiromi giggles while leaning over the counter to get her name tag that was laid out next to the cashier. She winked at her pink haired colleague. "I have a feeling it's mostly due to his wonderful co-workers".  
They laughed. Then, Hironi directed her attention to Kai, who approached the counter with a full tray of dirty dishes.  
“You’re Kai, right?”, she asked, a curious sparkle in her eye. He nodded wordlessly and moved behind the counter to load the dishwasher. “I cannot believe he pulled the frappuccino on you”, she giggled. Kai raised a brow at that. Looking up, he questioned. “The frappucino?”  
Hiromi nodded. “Yeah, it’s a thing he does. He’s actually only half-bad, once you get to know him”  
Kai shrugged. "I'm sure he is", he mumbled.

The early afternoon brought a breather, even though there still were a few customers around, mostly students that came in to pet the cats. Hiromi took over making coffee, Mao the toaster oven, and Kai was given responsibility as the cashier. He punched in orders and handed out the right amount of coins to customers. It was exhausting, but finally something he was good at.  
Kai cleared out the last few tables when Hitoshi looked up from his inventory lists and gestured for him to come closer, took down his glasses and smiled at him. "Wanna keep me company for a bit? You should get us a coffee, too"  
Kai did as he was told, prepared two espressi, one double, and brought them over to the booth. He carefully sat down besides Falstaff who stared at him like he stared at all the customers.  
Hitoshi sipped his coffee. "So you were listening", he teased, and Kai felt his cheeks warm in embarrassment. "You were right besides me", he mumbled half in apology.  
"So, Kai, how do you like it so far?", Hitoshi asked then. Kai thought for a minute. "It's intense", he then answered truthfully. "But I like it. It's interesting. And the cats are cute"  
TallTanHandsome, erm, Hitoshi smiled. And, just, wow.  
Kai gulped and tried not to stare too hard as he concentrated on Hitoshi's next words, because, man, his boss was hot. "Most of them are", he grinned while petting Falstaff. The heavy cat did not stop to stare at Kai as he let out a slow grumble. Kai felt a small smile tug on his lips. "Most of them. I guess this one's a hard one to crack"  
Siegfried mewled at him from the top shelf that apparently was his favorite spot and accepted Hiromi petting him as she walked by. The bell of the door chimed, announcing another customer, and Kai quickly finished his coffee. "Hey guys!", a cheerful voice called, and Kai was taken aback by the bright smile that met him. The new customer was about his height and the cats seemed to know him, judging from Siegfried, who abandoned his favorite spot to meet the new arrival. "Hey bro", Hiro called out. "What are you doing here?"  
The boss' brother grinned and winked at Hiromi. "My last class got cancelled, and I wanted to see my favorite barista", he explained as he picked up Siegfried, who purred loudly. Hiromi rolled her eyes. "You're only here for Siegfried, just admit it, Takao", she called him out affectionately.  
Kai, who had watched the exchange from behind the counter, threw a side glance at Mao. "Are they together?", he mouthed at her. Mao shook her head. "We have a betting pool going when they'll get their heads out of their asses though", she quietly explained, a mischievous glint in her amber eyes. "Wanna get in on it?"

At the end of his shift, Kai’s eyes were glued to the clock. His back hurt, he had a headache from the noise and lack of fresh air, and he was tired. Thankfully the stream of customers had dried out during the last thirty minutes or so, so he allowed himself to lean on the counter and take a deep breath. Mao finally went on her break and Hiromi was probably in the backroom caring for the cats. There were just a few guests sitting at the tables: Two girls fussing over Galux, Takao, who seemed to be busy studying, and another guy in a suit with a laptop in front of him. Kai could hardly look at him as his appearance hit a little too close to home. He remembered how Mao told him to restock the boxes with the ingredients as soon as the rush was over, so he began to check the supplies. There was a lot of stuff. Various syrups and spices, at least three kinds of sugar, mini marshmallows and cookies, sprinkles - so many sprinkles.  
He was so occupied with his work that he almost didn’t notice his next customer entering. “One second!” he finally said, glancing up at a tall redhead who seemed a bit stressed out; he was frantically looking for something in his bag. That gave Kai enough time to finish what he was doing and stroll over to the counter. “Hi. What can I get you?”  
“Uh…” The redhead looked up and Kai was met by a pair of remarkably blue eyes.  
“I, ah…” His mouth was slightly agape and Kai almost wanted to ask if he had seen a ghost. Well, after all that had happened today he probably looked ghoulish. Slowly, he raised one eyebrow. “So?”  
“Huh?”  
Or maybe Redhead was just not the brightest crayon in the box.  
“Coffee,” Kai said with a nod to their menu.  
“Right, coffee!” Blue eyes shot up to the board. “Yeah, uh, I…I take the…special?”  
Kai looked at him bewildered. “The whipped coffee foam iced vanilla latte with strawberry sprinkles?” He only knew that because Mao had forced him to put it on the board in the morning. He had to redo it at least three times because she wouldn’t be satisfied with his handwriting. The drink itself was Max’ idea. He had a thing for putting together the most horrendous ingredients and call it “special of the day”.  
But Redhead just smiled at him. “Yes, that. To go, please.”  
“Okay,” Kai mumbled and went to work. Redhead didn’t seem like a fancy drink guy, but who was Kai to judge people? He grabbed a cup and a pen. “Name?”  
“Yuriy.”  
Kai tensed. Of course. After all the Jacks and Johns and Jills and even the Jennifers he ended up with a guy whose name he never had to write down before. If anything, he had a vague idea about how this name could be spelled in Hiragana. He could also ask him to spell it for him - yeah, no. Never. With a small sigh he scribbled “Juuri” and went on. The next question was: how to make that drink? Hadn’t Max written down a recipe earlier?  
He found a stained piece of paper next to the coffee machine and went to work, despite the fact that half the words Max had written sounded like a foreign language to him. What was he supposed to do with the milk? And how would he get the coffee into the foam? After a few seconds he just decided to screw it and do what he thought was right. He knew how to make a vanilla latte and simple milk foam, and he just found out where the strawberry sprinkles were. However, everything took way too long. A few minutes into aimlessly fussing around behind the counter he sent a forced half-smile towards Guywiththeimpossiblename. Thankfully his customer didn’t seem to mind at all. He beamed, teeth as white as Hitoshi’s, his grin even wider. He watched Kai’s every move, which was a bit unnerving, but he’d rather die than admit that.  
Finally, after a solid five minutes, he put the cup down in front of the redhead. “Here ya go.” Forced smile again. “Enjoy.”  
“You, too!” Guywiththeimpossiblename only realized what he had said when Kai slowly raised an eyebrow. “Uh, I mean, have a nice day!” he said with slightly flushed cheeks. Then he swirled around and almost ran out. Kai watched as he stopped just outside the store window and shook his head, obviously being annoyed at himself.  
Kai snorted. And there he thought he was the one having a bad day.


	2. In Need Of A Blue Sky Holiday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title taken from Daniel Powter's "Bad Day."

Yuriy was having a bad day.  
Well, if he was entirely honest with himself - and he tried to be as honest with himself as possible -, it was not the worst of days. It was just that he had gotten up with the wrong foot and had been fifteen minutes behind his schedule, which meant that he had to forgo breakfast in order to make it to campus in time. Breakfast, as he did tire of informing Boris regularly, was the most important deal of the day. Mostly that was because he tended to become grumpy without anything in his stomach for too long. But sacrifices had to be made when one was a wild-life biology student and Yuriy was prepared to make them. Still, it had been a long night filled with studying and listening to Boris‘s endless ramble about the magnificence of illegal street-racing, and so he was understandably tired during his first lecture of the day.  
In fact, he was so tired that after the lecture had ended he decided that it was time for a nice, well-rounded cup of black tea so strong it would send his soul directly back to Mother Russia. There were not many coffee houses or tea shops on campus that could brew a proper cup of black tea the way he liked it, but desperate times called for desperate measures. And a cup of tea not brewed to perfection still was better than any standard cup of coffee. Yuriy knew that most people in this caffeine-addled country probably found him mad for thinking so, but he didn‘t particularly care.  
And a major advantage of the Beyrista, the coffee shop he ultimately chose for getting his tea fix, was that they had cats.  
Yuriy liked cats, although perhaps he liked dogs just a little more. Both of them would never best his love for wolves, but it was hard to come by wolves in a city, so he had to make do. And the cats were all rather peculiar, which was something he understood and respected. There was the British shorthair Galux with her high-and-mighty attitude that loved to pounce people she liked, never shy to ask for attention if she wanted some. The Chartreux Galeon usually was quite somber in comparison, yet occasionally showed quite the temper. Byakko, knowing how pretty he was, could be a bitch sometimes. He didn‘t know much about the two newest cats, Siegfried and Rodya, yet and had only fleetingly glanced at them so far, but he was confident that they would probably warm up to him. Animals liked him. And he sometimes liked animals more than people, too.  
People were at fault that he had at most ten minutes for tea and perhaps a sandwich. People were at fault that he could not find his pencil because Ivan had borrowed it from him yesterday for Sudoku. People were at fault that his bag was a mess because he had to shove everything into it in his panic of arriving too late at his lecture instead of carefully sorting everything into it as he was wont to do.  
Sighing exasperatedly, he rummaged in his bag while standing in front of the counter and only stopped when he heard a, “Hi. What can I get you?“  
“Uh …“ Yuriy looked up and immediately gaped like an absolute idiot.  
In front of him stood a god.  
It was the only explanation for what he was seeing. The guy in front of him was a little shorter than him, but that wasn‘t very surprising — Yuriy was quite a bit taller than most people, and the guy was Asian (if Yuriy had to guess, Japanese) on top of that. He looked at Yuriy with a slight frown on his perfect face and with eyes that had the most unique color he had ever seen. Yuriy felt like Edward Cullen thirsting over Bella Swan as he silently pondered whether they actually had the almost rusty color he was seeing or whether he was just imagining things. And the hair, oh God, the hair was an unruly, two-colored mess and Yuriy was absolutely in love with it. When he slowly raised an eyebrow Yuriy felt his mouth go dry. God, he wanted to climb that guy like a garden wall.  
“So?“  
“Huh?“ Yuriy asked, still caught in a rather alarmingly detailed fantasy where he swept Minor God away to come live with him in a cozy house at the edge of the forest where they would be friends with one or two packs of wolves. Their curtains would be blue, and there would be wild flowers in front of the house in order to give bees a safe, nurturing environment.  
“Coffee,“ Minor God said and gestured towards the menu board.  
Was there a hint of impatience in his lovely voice? It was enough to send Yuriy into a flight of panic the likes of which he had not experienced for quite a while. “Right! Coffee! Yeah, uh, I …“ His gaze shot over the menu board, but he was unable to actually read anything. It was as if his brain had simply short-circuited, which was probably the reason why he finally blurted out, “I take the — special?“  
Minor God stared at him as if he had grown two heads. “The whipped coffee foam iced vanilla latte with strawberry sprinkles?“  
Jesus Christ, what had he gotten himself into? That sounded like a concoction so abominable that people would have gotten whipped for creating it during the Soviet era. Well, there was no way but forward. No way in hell would he admit that he had had no idea what the special was. So he smiled as indulgently as he could so that it seemed as if that had been his plan all along and said, “Yes, that. To go, please.“  
“Okay,“ Minor God said, still a little incredulously. “Name?“  
“Yuriy.“  
Minor God tensed a little. Did he have something against Russians? No, no, that couldn‘t be it, could it? Besides, he had assumed that his accent was barely traceable by now, apart from the moments where he had a furious outburst. The thought was absurd. Perhaps he was just tired. Yuriy caught the name tag as Minor God turned around to the machines - Kai. What a lovely name. He repeated it quietly to himself like a crazy person and stared at him as he went to work. All thoughts of pressing lectures and hunger were forgotten when Kai smiled at him. Yuriy eagerly smiled back before inwardly cursing himself for showing too many teeth. Boris always told him that he looked a little like a maniac when he smiled, but that was just his face.  
”Here ya go,” Kai finally said and set down a cup of something undefinable, sugary in front of him before he smiled at him again. The motion seemed to physically pain him, but Yuriy had worked enough in customer service to understand. ”Enjoy.”  
”You, too,” Yuriy reflexively said and kicked himself when Kai merely raised an eyebrow. Where the hell was his brain when he needed it the most? ”Uh, I mean, have a nice day!”  
He fled the coffee shop before he could say another stupid thing. Outside, he stopped for a moment and shook his head at himself. Idiotic, really. People usually didn’t have such a strong effect on him, especially not upon first sight.  
Well, he couldn’t change what had happened. With a deep sigh he walked on and took a sip from the -- thing he had purchased and immediately felt as if he had bitten into a sugar cube. Who the hell would drink this on a regular basis? No matter, Yuriy was anything but a quitter. He would finish what he had begun, and if it was the last thing he did. 

By the time Yuriy came home, he had recovered at least a little bit from the ridiculous caffeine and sugar high that had carried him through his second lecture of the day. He did not remember much of it, except that his professor had sent him home after he had apparently spent forty minutes talking obsessively about how the entire classification of wolves as either alpha, beta or omega was absolutely wrong, especially when looking at wild packs that did not live in captivity. He was pretty sure that at some point, he had been standing in front of the entire course, gesturing towards the whiteboard where he had made excessive notes in four different colors. Maybe there had been a bit of sobbing because wolves were the best living creatures in the world, but he could not say for sure.  
“You look like shit,” Boris said lovingly from where he was lounging on the couch as Yuriy shook off droplets of rain from his coat before he put his boots on the shoe rack.  
“Thank you, darling,” Yuriy drawled sarcastically before he slumped against him and drew a deep sigh. Boris immediately slung an arm around him, heavy, muscular and safe. They had known each other for almost two decades by now, had weathered the heaviest storms together. If there was anything akin to a soulmate, then Boris was probably Yuriy’s. Their feelings for each other were deep and affectionate, transcending labels like friendship or romance. It was none of that, and maybe all of that at the same time.  
That didn’t mean that Yuriy wasn’t head over heels for the cute barista.  
“I had a bit too much coffee because the barista was so cute,” he blurted out.  
“Oh fuck,” Boris immediately groaned, “is this a Garland-situation? Please tell me it’s not a Garland-situation. I can’t handle another Garland-situation.”  
The Garland-situation he referred to was, unfortunately, one of Yuriy’s less shining moments where he had taken up martial arts for about ten months because he had started to lust after one of the instructors in their local martial arts school. Both infatuation and motivation had come to an abrupt halt after Garland had almost punched him into the afterlife in a rather unfortunate accident. Worse than that, however, had been the discovery that Garland had a quite convoluted affair with one of the other instructors, Brooklyn.  
“It’s not a Garland-situation,” Yuriy said, although he wasn’t entirely sure.  
Boris eyed him as if he wasn’t entirely sure, either. But then he just sighed and said, “Okay, I know you’re dying to tell me about him, so just do it.”  
“Do what?” Ivan asked, appearing in the doorway of the living room.  
Living with the people that he considered his true family had a lot of advantages, but sometimes it only meant that Ivan, Sergei and Boris showed an unholy amount of interest in his personal affairs.  
“Yuriy was just about to tell me of his newest crush,” Boris replied with a dangerous glint in his eyes.  
“Ohhh, is this a Garland-situation?” Ivan immediately asked and threw himself into the well-worn armchair that did not fit to the couch in either shape or color in the least, grinning when Yuriy groaned. “What’s he doing that could potentially send you into a coma this time, huh? He an assassin or something?”  
“You’re so incredibly funny,” Yuriy growled and sighed when Sergei, probably drawn in by the loud voices, entered the living room as well, lifted Ivan despite his loud protests and settled down into the armchair. Ivan smacked his arm, yet made himself comfortable on the bulk of Sergei’s huge frame like a king on his throne.  
“What are we gossiping about?” Sergei asked, completely unfazed that he was used as a chair. Then again, that wasn’t anything new. All their lives were incredibly entwined as it was only the case with people who had gone through a lot together, and who knew each other as closely and comfortably as possible.  
“Yuriy’s newest crush,” Boris supplied helpfully.  
“Ohhh. Is this a G-”  
“For fuck’s sake, it’s not a Garland-situation!” Yuriy yelled. “Now, everyone shut the fuck up so that I can tell you about my woes.”  
“Pray tell us about the woes that hath befallen thee,” Sergei immediately replied with an utterly straight face like the literature student he was, while Ivan and Boris cackled with unholy glee.  
Yuriy wanted to strangle all of them. But they were his family and more than strangling them he absolutely wanted to talk about the man of his dreams. So he took a deep breath and began, ”You know the Beyrista? With the cats and stuff? Well, when I went there today …”


	3. The One With the Special

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kai's favorite customer is back. Will Kai finally find out how to spell his name?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're back! Thank you all for your wonderful comments and kudos! They make our hearts soar!

His favorite customer was there again; the one with the special. Oh how Kai loathed him. He always came in at the worst time when they were swarmed with customers, he always took way too long to order, just  _ staring _ , and then he always, always ordered the most ridiculous drink they had on the menu. Mao and Hiromi always let him handle the customer. They had a bet going when Kai would cave and throw a drink into the redhead’s face. He had not. Yet.

However, if this continued, he might just … trip. With the special in his hand, right into the guy’s god awful face.

Kai made a face at the coffee he was preparing right now and willed himself into a smile as he heard his next customer step up.

“Hey Kai.” 

Immediately his cheeks went hot. When he turned around, very slowly, his eyes fell on Hitoshi, who was leaning against the counter right next to … guywiththeimpossiblename. (Kai still didn’t know if he got the spelling right by now, he just continued scribbling down Yuuri every damn time and the guy never said anything.) His manager was a bit shorter than the redhead, but damn, the view had just gotten so much better. Kai ignored the guy for now and gave his best attention to Hitoshi.

“Hey boss,” he tried to sound casual. “What do you want?”

Hitoshi met his eyes, and Kai tried to grin somewhat seductively, even though deep down he still feared that he looked like a complete idiot. 

“Espresso,” Hitoshi said and winked at him, and somehow Kai’s heart went down into his pants. He swallowed hard and immediately went to work, completely ignoring the cup filled with two or three different kinds of syrup that was still standing next to him, waiting for a double espresso shot and foamed milk. Making an espresso didn’t take much time anymore; by now he had become quite good at it.

When he slid the small cup over the counter top, their hands touched and lingered for a moment too long. Hitoshi smiled at him, again, and then went off, balancing his coffee over to his usual spot where he had set up his notebook.

He only came back to himself when somebody cleared his throat right next to him. Mao gave him a knowing smile and pointed towards the still unfinished special from hell. “Getting this done any time soon? You’ll have to heat up new milk. And don’t forget the double shot”

Kai quietly cursed to himself and shot a glance to guywiththeimpossiblename. He had been assaulted by Siegfried who had somehow managed to get into his arms and aggressively rubbed his head against the redhead’s chin. Yuuri tried to keep him away from his face, but Siegfried was stubborn like that. Once that cat set his mind to something, he went for it (Kai had lost count of how often he had to save him from the highest shelf because he was too scared to come down again but loved to perch there). Kai watched as the guy started to reason with the pet in a language he didn’t understand. Maybe something Eastern? Russian, maybe. The words sounded strangely soft and friendly, and there seemed no pauses between the sentences. Then he stopped speaking, took a deep breath - and sneezed loudly. 

“Bless you”, Kai uttered almost automatically. Shit, was he staring? He quickly turned back to heat milk again to finish this awfully sugary drink from hell.

“Thank you.” 

He briefly nodded and glanced over to the redhead again who seemed as surprised as Kai about this new level of conversation. So far, the only words they had exchanged had been the usual phrases of customer-server-communication. 

Kai poured two espressi and a load of milk foam over the syrup (today’s drink was not only sweet but also loaded with caffeine; he wondered how anyone could survive this double threat) and placed it in front of the guy. “Here you go, uh…” Again they looked at each other and Kai frowned, irritated. 

“Yuriy”, the guy said. “With one U, and a Y at the end. Not the easiest transcription, but I am special.” 

Kai huffed. “Like your choice of drink.” 

For a second something like a silent suffering stood in Yuriy’s face as he was looking down at the cup, but the moment was over in a blink. “Yeah. I guess, right?!” He reached out for the cup but Kai intervened. “Wait.” He grabbed his pen, scratched “Yuuri” and replaced it with “Yuriy”. “Like this?” 

“Yes, exactly!” Yuriy answered with obvious delight. His blue eyes carried on his smile and Kai felt a tiny hint of pride, even though he didn’t know why. 

“Well, enjoy your drink. Hope you’ll be able to sleep tonight.” 

Yuriy’s eyebrows shot up as he hesitantly took the cup. “I hope so, too…” he mumbled.

Kai watched him take off, wondering what kind of guy this … Yuriy might be. Siegfried jumping onto the counter brought him back to the present. The cat trilled as he tried to shoo it off the counter.

“Come on, you stupid cat”, he mumbled as he lightly nudged Siegfried towards the edge of the counter. “You’re not even allowed up here. Come on, you can go bother Hitoshi”

Siegfried, however, had different plans. He nuzzled Kai’s hand and the Japanese could no longer pretend he was  _ not _ weak for this particular cat. He sighed and stepped around the counter to pick Siegfried up, who immediately snuggled up to rub his face along Kai’s jaw. “You’re such a weird cat”, he told Siegfried, who in turn just meowed.

Kai ignored Mao who shot him a knowing glance from across the counter and walked over to Hitoshi, who had been joined by his brother. Even though Takao didn’t work at the Beyrista, he frequently hung out here, seemingly being friends with everybody on the staff list.

“I’m telling you, bro” Takao was about to finish saying something, but stopped himself mid-sentence once he spotted Kai. “Hi, Kai! How’s it going?”

“Good,” he returned, holding out the snuggle monster of a cat to his boss’ brother. “Do me a favor and keep an eye on Siegfried until lunch rush is over? He’s assaulted another customer today.”

Takao huffed a laugh and cooed at the cat that set into his arms with a low purr. “You’re such a little weirdo, getting attached to strangers!” He looked up at Kai. “Who did he try to cuddle to death today?”

“The one with the special,” Kai mumbled almost automatically and felt a blush heat his ears and creep onto his cheeks under Takao’s amused gaze. He cleared his throat. “I mean, I-”

Thankfully, he was interrupted by Hiromi who brought a round of iced coffee for them all.

“Don’t worry about it,” she casually joined the conversation, nudging him playfully as she shoved one iced coffee into his hands. “Each of us has that one person”

Hitoshi snorted. “That is true,” he mentioned absentmindedly, still deep in thought over whatever documents he was reviewing on his laptop.

Takao grinned as he slumped down besides him, giving the spare spot besides him a pat, inviting Hiromi to sit down besides him. Siegfried, who was laid over his shoulder, purred like the big baby kitten he was and rubbed his head against his cheek. “You’re such a big purring baby,” takao teased the cat as he scratched its head in response.

“Does really everyone have one with a special?” Kai curiously asked as he steered his coffee, glad to get a break. Hiromi pointed at Takao as she stole his iced coffee. “He still is my One with the Special”

Takao shot her a smug grin as he leaned in to place a kiss on her cheek. “And look how well that worked out!”

Hiromi gave an exasperated sigh before turning back to Kai. “So you’ve been here, what? A month?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“How do you like it?”

Kai shot a careful glance at his boss, who didn’t seem to listen, really. One of the cats - Galux? Galeon? It was hard to distinguish the twin cats on a normal day - jumped up besides him and made itself at home on his lap. He absentmindedly started to pet it as he answered, ignoring the looks of amusement by his colleagues. “Honestly? It was a bit overwhelming in the beginning with all the coffee orders, but I really like working here.”

“And a certain redhead?” Hiromi teased, which just earned her an eyeroll.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Kai shot back with a grumble.

He was shushed by Takao, who managed to get his coffee back and gestured towards the cash registry that was manned by Mao. “Oh look, Mao’s Matcha Latte Girl is back”

Kai raised an eyebrow at him. “Who’s Mao’s Matcha Latte Girl?” He asked, turning around to glance across the room to where Mao blushed as she took the order from a woman with long dark blue hair.

Hiromi shrugged. “We just know that she always comes in every other week to get a Matcha Latte and turn Mao into a puddle of gay”

“So, so gay,” Hitoshi sighed from behind the screen. “She almost ruined the toaster over it in the beginning”

“That toaster oven is like a right of passage, I swear”, Kai muttered, shaking his head.

Takao snorted. “Now come to think of it, babe, didn’t you set it on fire when we first met?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Siegfried is Kai's cat in tshjortile's head and one of her not-yet translated fics. We hope you enjoyed this chapter - let us know what you think in the comment section!


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